Edge-punched data card sorter

ABSTRACT

A SORTING MACHINE HAVING A SUPPORT FRAME VIBRATED BY A VIBRATOR MOUNTED THEREBENEATH. A SLIDING SELECTOR THAT IS EASILY MOVED ALONG THE LOWERMOST EDGE OF EDGE-NOTCHED DATA CARDS IS POSITIONED TO REST ON THE SUPPORT FRAME AND IS ACTUABLE TO PRESENT A RAISED KNIFE-EDGE SURFACE PAST WHICH CORRESPONDINGLY NOTCHED CARDS WILL DROP. THE SUPPORT FRAME IS MOUNTED TO VIBRATE INDEPENDENTLY OF HE HOUSING AND A COMPRESSION ADJUSTMENT PLATE IS PROVIDED TO HOLD A DECK OF DATA CARDS UNDER PROPER COMPRESSION FOR EFFICIENT SORTING.

United States Patent Inventor Edward D. Barnes.

Salt Lake City, Utah Appl. No. 782,085

Filed Dec. 9, 1968 Patented June 28, 1971 Assignee Datacap Systems SaltLake City, Utah EDGE-PUNCHED DATA CARD SORTER 6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 4. 209/805, 271/89 Int. Cl B07c 3/10 Field of Search 209/805;271/89 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,463,448 3/1949Weyandt 271/89 3,486,617 l2/l969 Cross 209/805 Primary Examiner-RichardA. Shcacher AtlorneyB. Deon Criddle ABSTRACT: A sorting machine having asupport frame vibrated by a vibrator mounted therebeneath. A slidingselector that is easily moved along the lowermost edge of edgenotcheddata cards is positioned to rest on the support frame and is actuable topresent a raised knife-edge surface past which correspondingly notchedcards will drop. The support frame is mountedto vibrate independently ofthe housing and a compression adjustment plate is provided to hold adeck of data cards under proper compression for efficient sorting.

EDGE-PUNCIIED DATA CARD SORTER BRIEF DESCRIPTION In data processingthere has long been a need for compact, low-cost equipment that can beused on an individual basis to quickly and easily sort data-punchedcards. Many card sorting machines have been developed in the past. Somehave been inexpensive and others have been easy and quick to operate.The conventional needle sorting machines are usually inexpensive toconstruct, for example, and provide effective sorting of many types ofcentrally punched cards, but they are slow to use. Other machines arefaster and some will sort edge notched cards. However, so far as I amaware, there has not heretofore been available a compact machine thatcan be easily and economically operated at the user's desk and that willquickly and accurately separate one or more data processing cards thathave been programmed by a particular notching of the card edges, from adeck of such cards.

Principal objects of the present invention are to provide a machine thatcan be built for a relatively low cost, in comparison to presentlyavailable machines; that is compact enough to be used at an operator'sdesk; and that will quickly sort edge-notched cards and separate outthose code notched with desired information.

An alignment panel allows a selector to be set such that only thosecards in a deck that have a sought-after code notching will be separatedout.

Principal features of the invention include a rack that is resilientlymounted with respect to its housing so that a vibrator mounted thereonwill vibrate the rack and any card supported thereby, withoutsignificantly vibrating the housing. A guide rack having notchescorresponding to the notch locations at the edge of a data processingcard and arranged to hold a representative or key card, cooperates witha selector that is moved with respect to the guide rack and that ispositioned to correspond to notch positions in the cards to be sorted.Once the selector has been positioned, a knife-edge is elevated and themachine is operated such that cards having coded notches positionedimmediately above the knife-edge fall from the deck to be separated fromthose cards held up by the knife-edge.

Other features include the special short, quick vibratory movementsintroduced into the frame through modifying the current to aconventional-type vibrator.

Additional objects and features will become apparent from the followingdetailed description and drawings, disclosing what is presentlycontemplated as being the best mode of the invention.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view, drawn to a smaller scale;

FIG. 3 atop plan view;

FIG. 4a,a vertical section taken on the line 4a-4a of FIG. I and FIG. 2,with a deck of cards shown resting on the support rack;

FIG. 4b, a view like FIG. 40, but showing some of the cards of the deckafter the knife-edge has been raised, the rack has been vibrated, andsome cards have been sorted out;

FIG. 5, a vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3;and

FIG. 6, a vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings:

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the invention includes ahousing 10 having a front wall 11 and a rear wall 12, interconnected bysidewalls l3 and 14. Front wall I] is cut away at to provide for travelof a sliding selector, shown generally at 16.

A pair of parallel and horizontal slide rods 17 and 18 are each insertedthrough both end walls 13 and 14 and are welded or otherwise fixed inplace. The rods 17 and 18 are highly polished so that tubular members 19and 20, respectively, telescoped thereon, can freely slide therealong.

A leg 21 (FIG. 6) extends upwardly from the member 19 and a similar leg22 extends upwardly from member 20. The legs 21 and 22, support aplatform 23, having parallel, upstanding walls 24 and 25.

A pair of rings 26 are also slidably fitted over the member 20 and therings are afiixed to an arm 28. As thus mounted, arm 28 can be raised orlowered, with the rings 26 then rotating around the member 20. A tooth29 is affixed to the bottom of arm 28 and is adapted to fit into any ofthe teeth 30 of a rack 31.

Rack 31 forms the upper part of a frame 32 that also includes a backingplate 33 and upper and lower guide troughs 34 and 35, respectively.

Screws 36 and 37, passed through the ends of the rack and threaded intoholes provided therefore in the end walls 13 and 14 support the frame inits set position.

A data processing card such as is shown at 38 (FIG. 1) will slide intothe frame, with its side edges fitting in the guide troughs, until thenumbers or other data indicating segments of one edge of the card arealigned with the grooves between teeth 30 of the rack 31.

Raising of arm 28 allows the members 19 and 20 to be moved along therods 17 and 18 to a desired position and thereafter lowering of the armwill position tooth 29 in a groove between teeth 31 to fix the positionof the sliding selector 16.

The sliding selector 16 further includes a bottom wedge 40 (FIG. 6) andan upper wedge 41, both arranged to travel between the upstanding walls24 and 25. Wedge 40 has a pin 42 extending therethrough and the pin ispositioned to reciprocate in oppositely positioned, horizontal slots 43through the walls 24 and 25. A handle 44, fixed to wedge 40, projectsthrough the cut away portion 15 of front 11, above the arm 28.

Wedge 41 has its inclined cam face 41a resting on the inclined cam face40a of wedge 40 and has an elongate, vertical slot 45, through which apin 46 interconnecting the sidewalls 24 and 25 is inserted. The top edgeof wedge 41 is made horizontal, when the sorter is in its normal useposition, and has a knife-edge 41b. As seen best in FIG. 6, pulling ofhandle 44 so that wedge 40 is moved toward opening 15, with pin 42travelling in slot 43, will cause the inclined cam face 40a to act onthe inversely inclined cam face 41a and thereby raise the wedge 41. Thewedge 41 is held against longitudinal travel and is guided in itsvertical travel by pin 46. Conversely, pushing of handle 44 to movewedge 40 away from opening 15 will allow the wedge 41 to drop.

With the arrangement above described, arm 28 can be raised and theselector can be moved sideways and be positioned, as desired, above thecard 38, or along the rack 31. The arm 28 can then be lowered and tooth29 will mesh with the rack to lock the selector against further sidewaysmovement. Thereafter, handle 44 can be pulled to raise wedge 41 orpushed to lower it, all as will be further described.

A pair of boxlike spacers 46 and 47, having bottom support arms 48projecting therefrom, are respectively welded or otherwise affixed toinner surfaces of sidewalls 13 and 14.

A vibrator plate 49, having upstanding end walls 50 and 51 (FIG. 5) andinwardly turned support frames, shown generally at 52, FIGS. 3 and 5) atthe top thereof, is positioned to be supported on the bottom supportarms 48 and between the spacers 46 and 47. The vibrator plate isseparated from the spacers by resilient members 53, and bolts 54inserted through the upstanding end walls 50 and 51, the resilientmembers 53 and sidewalls l3 and 14 have nuts 55 threaded thereon tosecure the vibrator plate to the spacers. The resilient members 53 maybe pads of rubber, or the like.

The inwardly turned support frames 52 each include parallel arms 52a and52b extending inwardly from the upstanding end walls and a crosspiece52c interconnecting the ends of the parallel arms. The crosspieces areeach of small cross section and are positioned such that they will notimpede upward movement of wedge 41 as it is moved upwardly therepast oneither side thereof as the tooth 29 is positioned in adjacent notches ofthe rack 31. The arms 52a and 52b are spaced sufficiently far apart thatthe wedge 41 can move upwardly between them.

A vibrator unit 56 is fixed to the underside of vibrator plate 49, andwhen connected to a suitable power source, through cord 57, and, ifdesired, a transformer 58, (P16. 1) will operate to vibrate the entireplate 49. It has been found desirable to utilize the transformer sincethe current operation to the vibrator unit is thus smoothedout-resulting in more rapid, shorter vibrations that more effectivelyseparates the cards. The amount of vibration, with respect to thehousing can be regulated by the extent to which nuts 55 are tightenedonto bolts 54.

A vertical plate 59 is fixed between the end walls 13 and 14, above oneof the ends of the crosspiece 52c and one end of the wedge 41 and formsa barrier against which an outer card of a deck of data processing cardsthat is placed on the crosspieces 52c rests.

A pair of vertical sideplates 60 and 61 extend from the vertical plate59 to form end guides for the deck of cards. Thus, they are positionedbetween the vertical plate and the rear wall 12, and generally above theupstanding end walls 50 and 51.

Another plate 62 is suspended between the vertical plate 59 and the rearwall 12 by a pair of crank arms 63 and 64 that are respectively fixed atone of their ends to blocks 65 and 66 at the top of the plate 62.

The other ends of the crank arms extend through elongate horizontalslots in the sidewalls and are threaded to receive knurled nuts 67. Thethreads are such that as the nuts 67 are tightened thereon the cranksare turned to pivot the suspended plate 62 towards plate 59. Thus, whena deck of data processing cards, such as is shown at 68, FIGS. 4a and4b, has been placed between the plates 59, 60 and 62 and is resting oncrosspieces 52c, nuts 67 can be released, plate 62 can be moved againstthe deck and turning of nuts 67 to tighten them will pivot the plate 62against the deck to apply an increased compression thereto that tends tohold the cards of the deck in a slightly compacted arrangement. As soheld, the cards are positioned such that the notches or spaces providedfor notches in the sides of the cards are aligned with notches in therack 31. As has been noted, the notches can also be in alignment with areference card 38 held in the frame 32.

In any event, once the deck has been properly placed between the plates59, 60 and 62, the sliding selector is moved sideways, as described, toa notch in the rack 31 corresponding to a notch representing particulardata on those cards to be separated from the deck. The handle 44 ispulled to move wedge 40 and thereby raise wedge 41. The knife-edge 41bof wedge 41 will contact the lowermost edges of the cards of the deckand will raise the deck from one of the crosspieces 52c depending uponthe positioning of the wedge 41 with respect to the centerlines of thecards.

Vibrator unit 56 is then operated to vibrate the vibrator plate and thisvibration is transmitted through the crosspiece 520 on which they restto the cards of the deck. This causes the cards to separate sufficientlyfor those having notches positioned above the knife-edge 41b of wedge 41fall down, with the notch straddling the wedge and the card then restingon both of the crosspieces 520.

It is a simple matter to then hold the cards that have fallen whileremoving the rest.

With the present invention it is easy to sort edge-notched cards. Theequipment is compact, not complex and can be made relativelyinexpensively.

Although a preferred form of my invention has been herein disclosed, itis to be understood that variations are possible within the scope of theinvention.

1 claim:

1. An edge-punched data card sorter comprising:

a housing;

a support frame for supporting data processing cards;

means for resiliently mounting said frame with respect to said housing;

a selector means including knife-edge means extending transverse to theedges of the cards for raising the cards from a portion of said frame;

means mounting said selector means for reciprocating movement beneathand in the direction of the edges of the cards; and

means for vibrating said frame, whereby each card having a notchpositioned above the said knife-edge means is adapted to fall such thatthe said notch straddles the said knife-edge means.

2. An edge-punched data card sorter as in claim 1, further includingmeans corresponding to the notches on the cards for positioning theselector means.

3. An edge-punched data card sorter as in claim 1, wherein theknife-edge means comprises:

a first wedge member arranged for horizontal travel and having aninclined upper edge and a handle to facilitate movement thereof; and

a second wedge member arranged for vertical travel and having aninversely inclined lower edge, resting on the upper edge of the firstwedge member and a horizontal upper edge shaped to have a knife-edgeconfiguration.

4. An edge-punched data card sorter as in claim 3, wherein the selectormeans further includes a platform carrying said knife-edge means; andwherein the means mounting said selector comprises parallel, polishedshafts on which the platform is slidably mounted.

5. An edge-punched data card sorter according to claim 1, wherein themeans for vibrating the frame comprises an electrically powered vibratorunit fixed to the bottom of the frame.

6. An edge-punched data card sorter according to claim 5, furtherincluding a transformer in the power circuit to the vibrator unit,whereby the vibration intensity can be varied.

